
1 -» 

Class H? Q^ 



KANSAS--THE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION. 



SPEECH, 

OF 

HON. EMORY B. POTTLE, OF NEW YORK. 



Delivered in the House of Representatives, March 22, 1858. 



Mr. Chairman: Before the vote shall be taken 
which will either leave the people of Kansas the 
control of that Territory, or, denying' the right 
of self-government, compel them to submit to 
laws to which they never gave their assent, and 
to institutions which they loathe and protest 
against, I desire the indulgence of the Commit- 
tee for the brief time allotted, that I may place 
upon your records the fact— important to me, ir 
to no one else— that in all the stages of this 
Kansas matter, I have, to the extent of my con- 
stitutional right, opposed this contemplated out- 
rage upon a portion of our people. 

Sir, I have not the foolish vanity to suppose 
that anything which I can say will change a 
vote upon this question, for I suppose that every 
member of this House has already in his own 
mind settled the question as to his vote upon 
this measure, according to the dictates of his 
conscience, or under the influence of surround- 
ing circumstances. 

If there were some voice among us potent 
enough to hush the jarring elements, and restore 
us to that harmony which once characterized the 
Representatives of the various sections, it would 
indeed be well. But, sir, I doubt that any one 
will be found able to hush the wild storm of 
passion which has taken possession of the public 
mind; surely not, unless we can better under- 
stand one another, and the points upon which 
we differ. Bound together by the ties of com- 
mon brotherhood, and with a' history which 
proves that our Union has thus far proved a 
success almost or quite unexampled, we yet meet 
here day by day, with feelings more embittered 
than we ever felt against the people of any 
father Government, even in times of war. And it 
would seem as though we had indeed reached 
thatjpoint of our history when the strength of 
this Confederacy was to be severely tried,- that 
period when the antagonism between our two 
eystems of labor, free and slave, will no longer 
be put off. Compromises have been resorted to, 
in order to delay this struggle, until they have 
teen exhausted and discarded by all parties. 
'Phis is a struggle which is not confined to Kan- 



sas. It neither began there, nor is it likely to 
end there. It began with the Government, has 
kept pace with it, and- will not be likely to end 
until there is nothing left to struggle for. Nor 
do I think that it is a mere struggle for political 
power. That may be a means of its progress 
but is neither its cause nor its end. I believe' 
sir, if the Union were to-day dissolved, that this 
struggle would still go on, and wax fiercer from 
that very cause. It is one of the evidences that 
the world moves, and that progress is slowly 
surely, and certainly, undermining and sweeping 
away those old abuses which deny to labor its 
proper reward, and to man that dignity to which 
he is by nature entitled. 

In my judgment, sir, it only remains for us to 
say whether that struggle shall be peaceful, and 
according to the ordinary course of events, or oth- 
erwise. The immediate point of this contest now 
presented, is whether Kansas shall be now ad- 
mitted into the Union, or rather, to speak more 
proper!}-, forced into the Union, under the Le- 
compton Constitution. Now, sir, the question of 
Slavery is certainly not the only one which the 
people of a new State have the right to pass 
upon, in framing for themselves a Constitution- 
nor are they bound to accept a Constitution until 
it shall, upon that and all other questions, be in 
accordance with their wishes. Yet I think none 
will dissent when I say, that if it had not been 
for this question of Slavery, the people of Kansas 
would have been left unmolested to settle and 
arrange their affairs in their own way, and would 
have come into the Union in proper time almost 
without question. 

_ Now, sir, I desire to say, and I wish to be dis- 
tinctly understood, here and elsewhere, that 
while I am opposed to Slavery as a great politi- 
cal and moral evil, determined to oppose and re- 
sist it whenever I have the right so to do, there 
is not one constitutional right, one guarantee 
which State sovereignty has thrown around this 
institution, which I have ever sought, or which I 
now seek, to interfere with. 

As I said, I look upon Slavery as a great wrong 
to the black man, and equally so to the white 



man, whose labor and political rights are affected 
by it; but I haye looked upon it, and still look 
upon it, as a question which belonged to the 
States where it is, and not to me. Deeply de- 
ploring its existence anywhere, and hoping for 
the time when those having the right to put an 
end to it would see how much it was for their in- 
terest to do it, I have been willing to leave it 
there and to them. I speak, sir, for no one but 
myself and that constituency whose opinions I 
mean faithfully to represent; but I believe that, 
in the position just stated, I share a common 
feeling with the party of which I claim to be a 
member. 

Sir, I desire just here to say one word in re- 
gard to the charge so often made, here and else- 
where, that this party is sectional; that it has for 
its object interference With Slavery, in violation 
of its rights under the Constitution, and in defi- 
ance of the sovereignty of the States. These 
are charges easily made, but not so easy to sus- 
tain. If gentlemen who make them would but 
take the trouble to look into the platform of the 
■Republican party, they would meet with greater 
success than I have, if they could there find any- 
thing to sustain these charges. The first resolu- 
tion^ that' platform is, in substance, that the 
maintenance of the principles of the Declaration 
of Independence and of the Federal Constitution 
is essential to the preservation of republican in- 
stitutions; and that the Federal Constitution, 
the rights of the States, and the Union of the 
States, shall be preserved. The second resolu- 
tion contains a denial of the right that Slavery 
can, under the Constitution, be established in the 
Territories. The third, that Congress has, under ; 
the Constitution, authority to govern the Terri- ' 
tories, and is bound to prohibit Slavery there- 
from. The fourth recites, substantially, the " bill 
of rights," and its infringement in Kansas. The 
fifth, the right of Kansas to be admitted into the 
Union under the Constitution which the people 
of that Territory had adopted. The sixth takes 
ground against the doctrines of the Ostend man- 
ifesto ; the seventh, in favor of a Pacific railroad ; 
the eighth, in favor of the improvement of rivers 
and harbors for certain purposes : and the ninth, 
an invitation to free men of all parties to unite and 
uphold the principles above set forth. And this 
is all. 

Now, sir, I call upon the gentlemen, one and 
all, who make these charges, to inform the House 
and the country upon which of these they base 
the charge that the Republican party is a sec- 
tional party. Let us, Mr. Chairman, have the 
specifications. Let us have the proof. Sir, I ask 
you, and I ask the members who make these 
charges, if there is anything upon the subject of 
the rights of Slavery in this platform, that was 
not to be found in the platform of that party 
upon which the honorable member from Georgia 
[Mr. Stephens] stood and battled so long and so 
well? upon which a score of honorable mem- 
bers from the slave States, whom I now see 
around me, fought so valiantly? Were these 
gentlemen, during all these years, standing upon 
a sectional platform, and one at war with the 
principles of the Constitution? No, sir; the 



charge is not true. The Republican party stands 
to-day upon a platform as broad as the Consti- 
tution, and no more. It is opposed to Slavery 
under the Constitution, and only under it. Its 
principles embrace and guaranty the right of 
every section of the Union under the Constitu- 
tion ; and if you have denied it a hearing in one- 
half of the Union, it is because its principles are 
national, and conflict with the sectional dogmas 
that have taken possession of that section — dog- 
mas which admit of no right but Slavery— no 
nationality but Slavery— no Constitution but 
Slavery — no Democracy but Slavery. And be- 
cause we will not subscribe to this new rev- 
elation, we are called sectional and fanatics. 
Because we stand by principles as old as the 
Government, and much older, you say we are 
inflicting wrongs upon the South. Mr. Chair- 
man, I tell you, and I tell gentlemen, that I am 
not here with an intention to inflict a wrong 
upon any section of the country; and if gentle- 
men, instead of asserting it, will show me facts 
to prove that by my action I interfere with the 
constitutional rights of any section, I pledge my-* 
self not only to desist, but, by my future action, 
to make such reparation for the past as I can. 

I have listened long and with attention to the j 
many eloquent gentlemen from the slaveholdinc 1 
section of the country, who have spoken upor 



the question of admitting Kansas under th. 
Lecompton Constitution, but I have yet to lean, 
the wrongs which it is said we of the North hav 
inflicted and are seeking to inflict upon them< 
And yet, these wrongs are said to be so flagrant 
that if we persist in them the South cannot an 
will not longer remain in the Union. I am e* 
ceedingly anxious to preserve the Union. I ha-v 
been taught to love it; and I believe I can trill 
say, in the language used by my colleague, [M 
Burroughs,] the other day, that " if need be, j 
am ready to lay down my life in its defence 
But, sir, I do not expect it to stand, and, furthe 
I do not desire it to stand, unless upon the brof j 
principles of justice, and with a full and consta 
recognition of the rights of all the parties w; 
compose it. 

When, now or hereafter, instead of protecti 
the rights of all, it is found that it has beco; 
the means of oppression to a portion, then, sii 
say, let the oppression cease ; let the rights of 
be respected, or let the Government end— pea 
ably or forcibly ; let it give place to one wh I 
will better accomplish the purposes for wh I 
Governments are instituted. 

If I have correctly understood gentlemen i*j 
their charges against the North, they are, tha 
we are seeking to deprive the South of its jus 
share in the Government ; that we are endeavor 
ing to compel them to take a position subordinat 
to us. If, at any time, there has been any dis 
position upon the part of the North to accomplis. 
this, it should, in fairness to all parties, be ad 
mitted that we have, thus far, met with jer 
indifferent success ; and that, as far as holdin 
offices under the Federal Government is cor 
cerned, the charge would much more proper 
come from the other side. Sixty years the Go- 
I ernment has substantially been in the hands an 



under the control of the slaveholders. If you 
look at the amount of territory which each sec- 
tion has acquired, (that of the slaveholding sec- 
tion nearly or quite doubling that of the free 
States,) you 'will be forced to the same conclu- 
sion; that is, that we, not you, ought to com- 
plain of being deprived of our "just share of the 
Territories. 1 ' Aud yet gentlemen gravely tell us, 
(and look and act as though they were in ear- 
nest,) that we are depriving the South of her just 
share of the territory; and that, unless we cease 
to do so, the Union must and will come to an 
end. 

Sir, I propose briefly to examine this question. 
I know that it has been many times done, and 
yet in these debates these old facts seem to be 
utterly forgotten or ignored. At tbe begioning 
of the Government, Slavery had no share in the 
territory not organized into States. It was con- 
fined to the States; looked upon as a local evil, 
which was soon to be got rid of; and was ex- 
pressly prohibited from occupying the Territories, 
or any portion thereof. It was the settled policy 
of all sections to prevent it from spreading. 

If proof were needed for facts so common- 
place and widely known, it would only be neces- 
sary to refer to the "ordiuance of 1*787, ; ' and to 
the expressed opinions of every distinguished 
gentleman, North or South, who took such part 
in the formation of the Government as required 
the expression of an opinion upon that subject. 

When subsequently we acquired additional 
territory, you requested that this policy should 
be abandoned ; and then, as now, you threatened 
a dissolution of the Union unless your request 
should be acceded to on our part. We of the 
North asked, as we had the right, that the then 
settled policy should be adhered to. But a prop- 
osition was brought forward by a distinguished 
statesman of your section, to compromise by di- 
viding the territory between us ; and it was ac- 
ceded to on our part — reluctantly, I confess ; un- 
wisely, I have never doubted ; but still, it was 
agreed to. Our portion, as a part of the agree- 
ment, being forever devoted to Freedom ; and 
yours — by far the better portion — was left free 
to you as to us. In that agreement you gained 
all that we yielded; we gained nothing; we 
simply reserved to a part of the territory that 
principle which before applied to the whole. 
You entered into that agreement as a fair com- 
pact between us — one which, as I have said, was 
made at your request ; and whether, in your esti- 
mation of it at this time, you gained or lost, you 
were in honor, and by all the rules of fair deal- 
ing, bound to carry out its provisions. We have 
faithfully abided by all the obligations which it 
imposed upon us. How have you kept faith with 
us ? I have no time to trace the history of bad 
faith and of wrongs on your part, and shall leave 
the compromises of 1850 and 1854 to answer my 
question. By the first, vou obtained rights and 
defences for Slavery, which we believe were not 
intended by the Constitution ; and by the other 
you have broken all faith upon this question, and 
by legislative enactments cancelled your agree- 
ment. 

But gentlemen tell us that the Supreme Court 



has decided that the compromise of 1820 was 
unconstitutional. I deny it, and appeal to the 
record of the court to sustain my assertion. I 
«ay that the Supreme Court has made no such 
decision. It is true that a partisan court, packed 
for the purpose, has so far forgotten what belongs 
to the power and dignity of a court, that individ- 
ual members of it have passed out of the record 
before them, and given extra-judicial opinions to 
that effect — opinions as binding upon that ques- 
tion as if givenr by the same gentlemen at a po- 
litical meeting, and no more so. By the repeal 
of the compromise of 1820 you threw open all 
the Territories to the occupation of Slavery. 
Starting with none, you acquired the right, in 
common with us, to all. Does this look like 
oppression on our part? Was this depriving you 
of your just share in the Territories ? What was 
the plea under which this was accomplished ? 
That the restriction was not democratic. That 
Congressional intervention, as you call it, was 
not democratic. That the true rule was to open 
the Territories to all sections, and allow the peo- 
ple occupying them to settle their domestic insti- 
tutions in their own way, subject only to the 
Constitution of the United States. We, at the 
North, or a portion of us at least, took issue with 
you upon this question, and went to the people, 
and were beaten. And now, when we call upon 
you to carry out this principle which you have 
introduced into the Government of the Territo- 
ries, and to which you have procured the sanc- 
tion of the popular will ; when we ask of you to 
abide by the will, again and again expressed, of 
the people of the Territory of Kansas, you refuse. 
You say that the popular majority in Kansas are 
factious. That to admit them into the Union 
under a Constitution of their own choice, which 
excludes Slavery, deprives you of jour rights, 
and that they must be admitted under the Le- 
compton Constitution, or you can no longer re- 
main with us in the Union. 

Sir, if any gentleman shall say that I beg the 
question, and that this Lecompton Constitution is 
to be regarded as expressing the consent of the 
majority of the people of that Territory, I beg to 
remind this House of ihe preamble and resolu- 
tions upon this subject which the people of that 
Territory have placed upon our records, and 
which I desire to incorporate into and make a 
part of my remarks : 

"Preamble and joint resolutions in relation to the 
Constitution framed at Lecompton, Kansas Ter- 
ritory, on ihe 1th day of November, 1857. 
'• Whereas a small minority of the people liv- 
' ing in nineteen of the thirty-eight counties of 
' this Territory, availing themselves of a law 
' which enabled them to obstruct and defeat a 
' fair expression of the popular will, did, by the 
' odious and oppressive application of the provis- 
' ions and partisan machinery of said law, pro- 
' cure the return of the whole number of the 
' delegates to the Constitutional Convention re- 
' cently assembled at Lecompton; and whereas, 
' by reason of the defective provisions of said 
' law, in connection with the neglect and mia- 
' conduct of the authorities charged with the 



4 execution of the same, the people living in the 
4 remaining nineteen counties of the Territory 
4 were not permitted to return delegates to said 
4 Convention, were not recognised in its organi- 
' zation, or in any sense heard or felt in its de- 
4 liberations ; and whereas it is an axiom in po- 
' litical ethics, that the people cannot be deprived 
* of their rights by the negligence or misconduct 
4 of public officers ; and whereas a minority, to 
' wit, twenty-eight only of the sixty members of 
4 said Convention, have attempted, by an unwor- 
1 thy contrivance to impose upon the whole peo- 
4 pie of the Territory a Constitution without con- 
4 suiting their wish, and against their will; and 
4 whereas the members of said Convention have 
1 refused to submit their action for the approval 
4 or disapproval of the voters of the Territory, 
4 and in thus acting have defied the known will 
4 of nine-tenths of the voters thereof; and where- 
4 as the action of a fragment of said Convention, 
4 representing, as they did, a small minority of the 
4 voters of the Territory, repudiates and crushes 
1 out the distinctive principle of the Nebraska- 
4 Kansas act, and violates and tramples under 
4 foot the right and sovereignty of Ihe people; 
4 and whereas, from the foregoing statemant of 
4 facts, it clearly appears that the people have not 
4 been left 'free to form and regulate their do- 
4 mestic institutions in their own way,' but on 
4 the contrary, at every stage in the anomalous 
4 proceedings recited, they have been prevented 
4 from so doing: 

" Re it therefore resolved by the Governor and 
4 Legislative Assembly of Kansas Territory, That 
4 the people of Kansas, being opposed to said Con- 
4 stitution, Congress has no rightful power under 
4 it to admit said Territory into the Union as a 
4 State ; and we, the representatives of said people, 
4 do hereby, in their name and on their behalf, 
4 solemnly protest against such admission. 

" Resolved, That such action on the part of 
' Congress would, in the judgment of the members 
4 of this Legislative Assembly, be an entire aban- 
4 donment of the doctrine of non-intervention in 
4 the affairs of the Territory, and a substitution in 
4 its stead of Congressional intervention in behalf 
4 of a minority engaged in a disreputable attempt 
4 to defeat the will and violate the rights of the 
4 majority. 

41 Resolved, That the people of Kansas Territory 
4 claim the right, through a legal and fair ex- 
' pression of the will of a majority of her citi- 
4 zens, to form and adopt a Constitution for 
4 themselves. 

" Resolved, That the Governor of this Territo- 
4 ry be requested to forward a copy of the fore- 
4 going preamble and resolutions to the Presi- 
4 dent of the United States, the President of the 
4 Senate, the Speaker of the House of Represent- 
4 atives, and to the Delegate in Congress from 
4 this Territory. G. W. Deitzlkr, 

" Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
" C. W. Babccck, 
44 President of the Council. 

" Secretary's Office, 
"Lecompton, K. T., January 12, 1858. 
" I certify the above to be a true copy of the 



r -i enrolled resolutions deposited in this 
L L - S -J office. Hugh S. Walsh, Clerk. 

" Originated in the House of Representatives.- 
" C. F. Currier, Chief Clerk." 

Sir, with this protest before us, how can it be 
said that the Lecompton Constitution legally 
expresses the will of the people of the Territory ? 
That there has, in all its stages, been a large 
actual majority against it, is a fact which has 
been so fully established as to require no com- 
ment ; indeed, I think it is not seriously denied, 
here or elsewhere. But the friends of this Con- 
stitution, including the President, say that if a 
Convention be duly elected, although by a minori- 
ty of the people, and frame a Constitution, it is 
as binding upon the people as though all had 
voted ; in other words, those who had a fair op- 
portunity to vote, and yet refused or neglected 
to do so, are bound by the action of those wh* 
did vote. Sir, I have no fault to find with that 
position ; it is one incident to our form of Gov- 
ernment. But, while conceding this, I take oc- 
casion to say to the gentleman, and to the Presi- 
dent, that this position cannot avail them here 
against the fact which they know, against the 
fact established, not only by the whole history 
of this Kansas difficulty, but also by the evidence 
taken by a committee sent there by Congress to 
inquire into that history. There never was a 
legal Convention to frame that Constitution. The 
Legislature which authorized the election of 
delegates to it was a fraud, and held their seats, 
not by the votes of the citizens of Kansas, but 
through the violence and ruffianism of those who 
never had been citizens of the Territory. The 
Legislature thus elected had no legal right to 
their seat3, no power to order a Convention, and 
wer^ only kept in their seats by the force of Fed- 
eral troops. When they ordered the election of 
delegates, without the legal right so to do, there 
could be no obligation upon the people to recog- 
nise that order by voting; nor is it possible to 
fairly raise an intendment again t them by rea- 
son of their refusal to sanction this outrage, not 
only upon their rights, but upon the principles 
which underlie our whole structure of Govern- 
ment. 

But, sir, suppose, for the sake of the argument, 
we adopt the view of the friends of this Lecomp- 
ton Convention. What then? Gentlemen tell 
us that there are many precedents where States 
have been admitted without referring the Con- 
stitution framed by the Convention to the sanc- 
tion of the people. Granted ; but, sir, I call upon 
them, one and all, to point to a precedent in this 
Government where a State was forced into the 
Union against its will ; where a Constitution 
was ever forced upon the people of a State against 
the protest of a majority of that people. And 
yet that is precisely what is sought to be done 
in this case. Those who claim that the Conven- 
tion was regular, cannot, will not, say that the 
Legislature which puts this protest npon our 
records is not also regular. If the Convention 
must be deemed as embodying the will of the 
majority of the people, are you not mu;h more 
bound to say that the Legislature also represent- 



r 



ed and expressed the will of a majority of the 
people? And, sir, in the name of that majority, 
they protest against being brought into the Union 
under this Constitution. Now, sir, I ask by what 
precedent, by what reasoning, by what right, you 
can do this in a Government resting upon pop- 
ular will — in a Union made up by the volunta- 
ry agreement of each new member that becomes 
a party to it? 

I would like to have gentlemen explain. I 
desire to be informed in relation to this new creed 
of Democracy, which puts minorities in power, 
and compels majorities to submit against their 
legally-expressed will. Sir, there is but one 
answer; and if it were fairly given, it would be 
simply that Slavery, in its determined spirit of 
propagandism, defers to majorities when to its 
purpose, and overrides and disregards them when 
they conflict with its interests ; heeds the will 
of majorities as it keeps compromises and com- 
pacts, and that is Just so long as it is for its inter- 
est, and no longer. These are harsh and unpleas- 
ant truths, sir; but truths, nevertheless — truths 
which I take no pleasure in uttering, yet estab- 
lished so that neither I nor you can chauge or 
falsify the record if we would. 

You say, with the President, that the country 
wants peace, and a stop to this excitement. So 
say we; but we want a peace founded upon jus- 
tice, and none other could be obtained if we 
desired it. If you really desire such a peace, 
abide by your compacts, and we will abide by 
ours ; abide by the principle of " popular sov- 
ereignty," which you have established, whether 
it works against you or for you, and not make 
coniphvsKs and threats at its results. We pro- 
tested, as I have said, against the introduction 
of that principle into the Territories. But, sir, 
while it remains, we shall adapt ourselves to it, 
contest every inch of territory, and beat you in 
every one if we can. 

You complain that we did all that we could to 
induce the emigration of those in favor of free 
principles into Kansas. AVe did so. We intend 
to do so in eveiy one of the remaining Territories. 
We had and have the right so to do. You did 
the same thing in the same way in relation to 
emigration from your section of the country, and 
you are preparing to do it in relation to Arizona 
and the other Territories. It is your right ; and 
we have not complained, and shall not, on our 
part, that you had not the right so to do. I 
repeat, sir, that this new way of settling the 
" domestic institutions " of the Territories is a 
spirit which you called up from the political 
depths to serve your purpose ; and if it will not 
"down at your biddmg," surely, complaint does 
not come from you with a good grace. It is true, 
we have more people to spare in the settlement 
of the Territories than you, and their position 
gives them greater facilities for emigration ; but 
you knew that fact before you broke up the di- 
vision line between us. You submitted the ques- 
tion as, to what share Slavery should have in the 
Territories to the popular will; and if that pop- 
ular will decides that you shall have none, where 
is the wrong or injustice in asking to abide the 
arbitrament of your choice? 



Some gentlemen tell us that Slavery is a God- 
ordained institution, justified by the Holy Scrip- 
tures — the type of the highest civilization known ; 
and that if we do not desist from our opposition 
to its spreading, the South intends to invade us 
with the sword in one hand, and a Bible in the 
other. Now, sir, I beg gentlemen of that section 
not to take offence at my interference in their 
preparation for this mighty onslaught, if I sug- 
gest to them that it would be better to leave their 
Bibles at home. We have a good many of those 
North now; and besides, sir, in such a district as 
that represented by the honorable gentleman from 
Georgia, [Mr. Gaktrell,] where he says there 
are fifteen thousand freemen — and I add, that to 
make up a congressional representation there 
must necessarily be about one hundred thousand 
slaves — it would be wise to leave your Bibles for 
the slaves, that they may read them, and be kept 
quiet by the knowledge that it is God's will that 
they should occupy their present position. After 
mustering the army t necessary to compete with 
the one hundred thousand freemen of my dis- 
trict, (if the gentleman will allow me to offset 
one district against the other,) I do not see what 
else he could leave to keep them quiet. Mr. 
Chairman, it may be that gentlemen are serious 
in these threats of war and dissolution of the 
Union; but they have been so often repeated in 
Congress, and have so often failed of fulfillment, 
that we must be excused if we do not at this 
time give to them that attention which their im- 
portance demands. 

We were told the other day, by the honorable 
member from Virginia, [Mr. Smith,] that " any 
State of this Union had a right to secede at pleas- 
ure." Without stopping to comment upon that 
position, the gentleman will pardon me if I in- 
quire of him if he expects there will be a peace- 
able dismemberment of a Governmeut like this? 
Does he believe that if we were, by common 
consent, to make the effort, we could separate 
our entangled interests so as to satisfy both par- 
ties ? 

But what, I ask, do gentlemen propose to gain 
by dissolution, supposing it could be peacefully 
accomplished ? You have, by the compromise of 
1864, got the right to all the territory, in common 
with us. A portion of this you would certainly 
lose. We now, in great part, support your mail 
service ; that we should no longer do. We 
guard your frontier ; that we should no longer 
do. We pay a very disproportionate part of the 
cost of the Government ; you, alike with us, 
would be left to pay your own. We hold your 
millions of slaves in subjection to you, a service 
which we shall not regret to be absolved from. 
We return the fugitive which escapes to your 
service, except an occasional one, who prefers 
death to your higher civilization ; and we not 
only return them, but we pay the expense of our 
own dishonor in this respect. Now, sir, it is 
very clear that, in a division, this business will 
be handed over to you. We shall neither per- 
form it ourselves, nor allow you to do it upon 
our side of the line. And you surely do not ex- 
pect to lessen our objections to human bondage 
by absolving us from all obligations to respect it 



6 



as a system, and from even indirectly yielding it 
support. 

I tell the gentleman from Virginia, [Mr. Smith,] 
and I tell honorable members who threaten dis- 
union, that there will be no peaceable dismem- 
berment of this Government, even if we endeav- 
ored so to have it ; and the gentleman's colleague 
well said that, if disunion ever comes, it will not 
begin in Congress. It will begin, as other revolu- 
tions have begun, among the people. It will 
begin only when the conviction is forced upon 
the minds of the people, that the Government, in 
its corruption, has left them no hope of peacea- 
ble means of redress. It will not be hastily 
begun, nor even by the ordinary causes of pop- 
ular outbreaks in other Governments. "We are a 
law-loving, law-abidingpeople, North and South. 
I speak now, sir, of the people — the masses — and 
not of ambitious political leaders. Were it not 
so, we should now be deciding this question 
upon the battle-field. 

But, sir, there is a point in this matter which 
it will be fatal to pass — a point upon which trem- 
bles the lives of millions of men. Should we ever 
unsheath the sword of civil strife, it will be no 
common feud. We are children of the same fam- 
ily, actuated by the same courage, as has been 
proved upon many a battle-field, feeling the same 
unyielding determination to stand by our rights, 
or fall in their defence. Sir, J believe that the 
page on which is recorded the history of that 
struggle (should it ever come) will be the red- 
dest page which God has ever permitted to be 
written upon this earth. I hope, I pray, it may 
never come. But, sir, I may add, should it come, 
we of the North are not responsible for it; we 
have tried to keep peace ; we have made sacri- 
fices to this end which few people ever made ; 
and we will not be responsible for its results. If 
you begin a revolution to spread Slavery, you 
should not complain if, like all other revolutions, 
it breaks the fetters of the slave, and lets up the 
oppressed. If you begin the war, and find in its 
results that your millions of slaves, hardly now 
held to subjection, shall rise up and enact upon 
you, your wives and children, the awful atroci- 
ties of British India, charge us not with the 
fault. We want peace, not war ; union, not dis- 
cord ; brotherly feeling, not hatred. And we can 
have these only upon the terms of justice and 
fair dealing. Sir, as dearly as we prize these 
blessings, and great as are the sacrifices which 
we have made, and are willing to make, to ob- 
tain them, for one, I say — and I have well con- 
sidered the words — rather than see a continu- 
ance of the wrongs and outrages, the frauds and 
villainies, which have been connived at and sus- 
tained by this Government in this matter of Kan- 
sas, I would prefer to see an end of the Govern- 
ment, and abide the result. 

Mr. Chairman, the people of the North are not 
" negro worshippers," as they have been termed 
on this floor. Nor are they, abolitionists. As I 
have already said, they dislike your institution, 
and believe it to be wrong in the sight of God, 
and unworthy of the civilization of our age and 
country. They would gladly assist — not force — 
you to abolish it where it now exists. But the 



great objection with the masses of the North, and 
one which will ultimately unite them in the same 
manner to oppose its progress that the South is 
united to spread it, is the effect of this institution 
upon the growth and prosperity of the people — 
is its bearing as a question of political economy. 
These effects are no longer matter of doubt or 
speculation. Gentlemen may talk about the 
value of their annual product of cotton and 
sugar. What do such facts weigh against' the 
comparison of States, side by side, in wealth, in 
population, in schools, in general intelligence, in 
all the comforts and blessings of life ? Weigh 
Virginia against Pennsylvania, Kentucky against 
Ohio, and the slave State3 which have been ad- 
mitted since the formation of the Government 
against the free States admitted within the same 
time, and answer the question for yourselves. 
There is no chance for mistake here ; for in soil, 
in climate, in everything, you had the advantage; 
and yet, with all these, how far you have 
fallen behind ! I do not deny but that your sys- 
tem gives, in individual instances, the very high- 
est opportunity for improvement. The individual 
who reaps the unpaid toil of others may have, 
and will have, leisure and means for cultivation 
beyond that of him who toils for his support. But, 
sir, we hold that Governments were made for the 
good of all, and that one the best which consults 
the interest and happiness of all. In striving to 
keep the Territories free, we seek, not only the 
interests of the people of Kansas, but of free 
labor everywhere. 

I know that we are told, by the honorable Sen- 
ator from South Carolina, [Mr. Hammond,] that 
labor is servile, and laborers everywhere slaves. 
To make sure that I do him no injustice, I 
quote what the honorable Senator said on that 
point : 

" In all social systems, there must be a class to 
' do the mean duties, to perform the drudgery of 
' life. That is, a class requiring but a low order 
' of intellect and but little skill. Its requisites 
' are vigor, docility, fidelity. Such a class you 
' must have, or you would not have that other 
' class which leads progress, refinement, and civ- 
' ilization. It constitutes the very mud-sills of 
' society and of political government ; and you 
' might as well attempt to build a house in the 
' air, as to build either the one or the other, ex- 
' cept on the mud-sills. Fortunately for the 
' South, she found a race adapted to that pur- 
' pose to her hand — a race inferior to herself, 
' but eminently qualified, in temper, in vigor, in 
1 docility, in capacity, to stand the climate, to 
' answer all her purposes. , We use them for the 
1 purpose, and call them slaves. We Jare old- 
' fashioned at the South yet ; it is a word dis- 
' carded now by ears polite ; but I will not char- 
' acterize that class at the North with that term, 
' but you have it ; it is there ; it is everywhere ; 
' it is eternal. 

" The Senator from New York said yesterday 
' that the whole world had abolished Slavery. 
' Ay, the name, but not the thing ; and all the 
1 powers of the earth cannot abolish it. God only 
' can do it when he repeals the fiat, ' the poor ye 
' always have with you ; ' for the man who lives 



' by daily labor, and scarcely lives at that, and 
' who has to put out his labor in the market, and 
' take the best he can get for it ; in short, your 
' whole class of manual laborers and operatives, 
1 as you call them, are slaves. The difference 
' between us is, that our slaves are hired for life 
' and well compensated ; there is no starvation, 
' no begging, no want of employment, among our 
' people, and not too much employment either. 
' Yours are hired by the day, not cared for, and 
' scantily compensated ; which may be proved in 
' the most deplorable manner, at any hour, in any 
' street, in any of your large towns. Why, sir, 
1 you meet more beggars in one day, in any sin- 
1 gle street of the city of New York, than you 
' would meet in a lifetime in the whole South. 
' Our slaves are black, of another, inferior race. 
' The status in which we have placed them is an 
' elevation. They are elevated from the condition 
' in which God first created them, by being made 
1 our slaves. None of that race on the whole 
' face of the globe can be compared with the 
' slaves of the South, and they know it. They 
' are. happy, contented, unaspiring, and utterly 
' incapable, from intellectual degradation, ever 
' to give us any trouble by their aspirations. 

"Your slaves are white, of your own race; 
' you are brothers of one blood. They are your 
' equals in natural endowment of intellect, and 
1 they feel galled by their degradation. Our 
' slaves do not vote. We give them no political 
' power. Yours do vote, and being the majority, 
'they are the depositaries of all your political 
' power. If they knew the tremendous secret, 
' that the ballot-box is stronger than an army 
' with bayonets, and could combine, where would 
'you be? Your society would be reconstructed, 
' your Government reconstructed, your property 
' divided, not as they have mistakenly attempt- 
' ed to initiate such proceedings by meeting in 
' parks, with arms in their hands, but by the 
' quiet process of the ballot-box. You have been 
' making war upon us to our very hearthstones. 
' How would you like us to send lecturers or ag- 
1 itators North, to teach these people this, to aid 
' and assist in combining, and to lead them? : ' 

Sir, I tell you, and I tell the honorable Senator, 
that the very thing which he holds up to fright- 
en us — viz : that those who labor will yet rule 
us — is what we have already accomplished; and 
therein lies the difference of our system of labor 
and that of the gentleman's section. With him, 
power in the hands of the laborer is his greatest 
dread; with us, it is our highest boast. In his 
section, the "mud-sills of society " are slaves, 
who would use power, if they had it, to repay 
long years of wrong and degradation; with us, 
the "mud-sills," the laboring men, are in power 
already, and using it, not to avenge injuries, but 
to perpetuate and increase blessings which are 
common to all. Labor, instead of being a stig- 
ma, is the proudest dignity which we know. 
With us, those only are dishonored who are the 
drones of society, and refuse to labor. Our la- 
boring men, our "mud-sills," are representing 
themselves ; the gentleman can meet them in the 
Senate, or here upon the floor of this Hall ; and 
however much he may disallow their claims, 



they will, here and everywhere, insist that they 
are the peers of all those who represent his sys- 
tem of labor. 

The honorable gentleman from Georgia, [Mr. 
Crawford,] who, I think, has made up the 
strongest case upon the Lecompton side, indulged 
in a_ course of remarks calculated to convey the 
impression that all the wrongs and outrages 
which had been perpetrated in Kansas were by 
the Free State men. From the high character 
which the gentleman sustains, I was prepared to 
hear from him a different statement, and I was 
not a little surprised when the gentleman dwelt 
so long and so pointedly upon our Northern 
" Emigrant Aid Society," and the combinations 
by Northern men in Kansas, that he omitted, 
possibly forgot, to mention Southern " emigrant 
aid societies" and "blue lodges," as connected 
with this Kansas history. 

Sir, I do not intend to go over the history of 
these wrongs. The people of my section know 
them all, and those of your section would never 
see the evidence, were I to collect it. It has 
already been many times done more perfectly 
than I could do it, and presented in a way no 
hour speech can present it. But I have just 
received a letter from a distinguished citizen, 
until within a few months a resident of my dis- 
trict, afnd now a resident of Kansas, which, from 
his high standing, and from long years of unti- 
ring, unfaltering support to whatever has been 
called " Democratic," will entitle it to credit in 
my district, if nowhere else. He, for years, 
shared the toil and the triumphs of that party ; 
he was the supporter of Mr. Pierce and Mr. Bu- 
chanan, and he left his old home for the West 
with feelings toward the " Black Republicans " 
similar to those taken to Kansas by Reeder, 
Geary, Walker, and Stanton, and you will see 
by his letter that his conversion has been not 
less perfect than theirs : 

"Leavenworth City, Feb. 23, 1858. 
" Dear Sir : You may not know that I have 
been a resident of this place since May last. 
Supposiug that the political storm which raged 
here with such fury had passed away, I came 
here with my family, together with Mr. Brown, 
(who married my youngest daughter.) with the 
intention of making this my future home. The 
end, however, it seems, is not yet. No man out 
of the Territory can form any just idea of the 
enormity of the wrongs to which the Free State 
people have been subjected. Very little reli- 
ance can be placed on the public press. To 
know the facts, a person must live here. The 
Free State people outnumber the rest of our 
population in the proportion of five to one ; and 
yet, through the atrocious frauds committed on 
the ballot-box, we are never sure of securing 
our rights. By this time you will have seen 
something of this in the testimony taken by a 
committee, &c. We care nothing tor what may 
be done by our opponents, if the ballot-box can 
be sacredly secured to us. Until that right is 
secured, we are at the mercy of the most un 
scrupulous gang of marauders that Heaven ev. 
suffered to live. 



8 



" You know I have always voted the Demo- 
' cratic ticket — one of the Hard-Shells of New 
' York ; but if the treatment we receive at the 
1 hands of Government be Democracy, \ am no 
' longer one of them, and from my inmost soul 
' bid you and your Republican brethren God 
' speed in any and all honorable means to hedge 
' up their way in all attempts to violate the great 
' principle on which the Kansas-Nebraska bill is 
' based. 

" This is a fine country, and when peace is 
1 restored, and, the right shall prevail, will rap- 
' idly fill up, and ultimately become a first-class 
' State. 

" I shall be happy to hear from you, from time 
' to time, at your leisure. 

" With much respect, I am, dear sir, yours, 
" James Taylor. 

"Hon. E. B.Foitle." 

Mr. Chairman, I have but few words to add in 
conclusion. I will only repeat, I desire peace ; I 
desire that the present excitement shall pass 
away, and give place to that brotherly feeling 
which ought to exist between those of the same 
nation, of the same blood, and speaking the same 
language. War and strife is ever hateful, and 
doubly so when waged by members of a common 
family against each other. But, as I said, there 
will be no peace except it be founded in justice ; 
fraud and violence never yet produced peace, 
and never will. They are ever the harbingers 
of strife and of war ; and so will they prove, if a 
continuance of them is persisted in. The people 
of Kansas have patiently waited, and borne 



wrongs which would have shaken any monarch 
in Europe' from his throne. They have waited 
in hopes that finally they would be allowed the 
peaceful, constitutional remedy of the ballot- 
box, and thus put a stop to their oppressions. 
Compel them into the Union under this Consti- 
tution, and take from them that hope, and they 
will wait no longer. They will resist, I doubt 
not; and I think they will not be left to resist 
alone and unaided. The cause of constitutional 
right is the cause of millions who never saw 
Kansas. 

The honorable member from Georgia, already 
referred to, told us the other day that "the 
North, in this Kansas matter, had fought with a 
steadiness and zeal worthy of a better cause." 
Sir, I tell the gentleman, and all who seek to 
fasten this great wrong upon the people of Kan- 
sas, that, should they succeed, they will see a 
zeal and steadiness upon the part of the North 
hitherto unknown. They will yet come to real- 
ize that our "fanaticism" has already reached 
that point where we recognise no better, no ho- 
lier cause than that of human liberty — no higher 
duty than opposition to fraud and oppression. 
They will come to know that, however we differ 
as to whether any more slave States shall, under 
any circumstances, be admitted into the Union, 
there is one point upon which we agree; and that 
is, that Slavery will not be allowed to add new 
States by fraud or by violence, without meeting 
our determined, unfaltering, resistance ; and from 
this position we cannot be driven by any threat 
of danger to the Union. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 

BUELL & BLANCHARD, PRINTERS. 

1858. ■ 



